26th August 2015: Red Hot Chilli Tribute with Gregory Ramanado and Kaya! at Daily Pint, Plaza Glomac, Kelana Jaya. I hate that Glomac can’t name their buildings distinctly!

New pub in a quiet part of town.

Pow! Gregory Ramanado’s new microphone stand.

First set was just him and his tunes, a few covers, but disappointingly, no Red Hot Chili Peppers covers.

Big brother is watching.

Second set was Kaya The Band, this time with at least one RHCP cover – Zephyr Song.

Drum and bass.

Soundman rocking out!

Finally, third set with some proper RHCP covers – Greg does Give It Away and Suck My Kiss.

Ray Cheong comes on to do a little Jimi Hendrix.

Ben Harding guest vocals for Californication and Dani California, while the band ends with Snow (Hey Oh).

Here’s their cover of Californication!

Personally I came in a RHCP mood, not to hear AC/DC or Led Zeppelin or Iron Maiden covers. Yes, they rocked each cover out to maximum possibleness, but still it just spoils the mood when nobody ever covers RHCP and you head all the way to some deserted part of town to hear covers of bands you hear being covered all the time. At least, alternate the material, so two non-RHCP songs, and one RHCP song, if that’s all you’ve had time to practice for. Having people wait and not managing expectations will surely have them ordering more drinks while waiting stupidly, but you can bet they won’t return.

It felt like buying a pirated CD from a night market which appeared to be a RHCP album from its cover, only to find it was an album full of rock-and-roll songs and only one RHCP song. I know a public calling-out isn’t great but all these Malaysian “tribute” gigs that don’t do 100% covers of that band – and not even 50% – has got to stop. Sadly, this style of non-tribute gigs are the majority. I should expect to be disappointed with any and every tribute gig in Malaysia.